the baskets or 'gardens' at this time. On the
first day a small room is cleared and whitewashed, and is known as the
_diwala_ or temple. Some earth is brought from the fields and mixed
with manure in a basket, and a male member of the family sows wheat
in it, bathing before he does so. The basket is kept in the _diwala_
and the same man attends on it throughout the nine days, fasting all
day and eating only milk and fruit at night. A similar nine days' fast
was observed by the Eleusinians before the sacramental eating of corn
and the worship of the Corn Goddess, which constituted the Eleusinian
mysteries. [71] During the period of nine days, called the Naoratra,
the plants are watered, and long stalks spring up. On the eighth day
the _hom_ or fire offering is performed, and the Gunias or devotees are
possessed by Devi. On the evening of the ninth day the women, putting
on their best clothes, walk out of the houses with the pots of grain
on their heads, singing songs in praise of Devi. The men accompany
them beating drums and cymbals. The devotees pierce their cheeks with
long iron needles and walk in the procession. High-caste women, who
cannot go themselves, hire the barber's or waterman's wife to go for
them. The pots are taken to a tank and thrown in, the stalks of grain
being kept and distributed as a mark of amity. The wheat which is sown
in Kunwar gives a forecast of the spring crops. A plant is pulled out,
and the return of the crop will be the same number of times the seed as
it has roots. The woman who gets to the tank first counts the number
of plants in her pot, and this gives the price of wheat in rupees
per _mani_. [72] Sometimes marks of red rust appear on the plants,
and this shows that the crop will suffer from rust. The ceremony
performed in Chait is said to be a sort of harvest thanksgiving. On
the ninth day of the autumn ceremony another celebration called
'Jhinjhia' or 'Norta' takes place in large villages. A number of
young unmarried girls take earthen pots and, making holes in them and
placing lamps inside, carry them on their heads through the village,
singing and dancing. They receive presents from the villagers, with
which they hold a feast. At this a small platform is erected and two
earthen dolls, male and female, are placed on it; rice and flowers
are offered to them and their marriage is celebrated.

The following observances in connection with the crops are practised
by the agricultural ca